Systems and methods for providing awards and advertisement content within a gaming environment

ABSTRACT

Computer-implemented methods for proving awards and advertisement content within a gaming environment are described. In one example embodiment, a method comprises receiving predetermined advertisement content selection criteria for selecting the advertisement content, selecting the advertisement content from an advertisement database based on the predetermined advertisement content selection criteria, and selectively providing the advertisement content for a surface of a virtual object within the game. In another example embodiment, a method comprises receiving a request to provide the award to a player playing a game, receiving predetermined award selection criteria for selecting the award, selecting the award from an award database based on the predetermined award selection criteria, and selectively providing the award to the player. The predetermined selection criteria include personal preferences, social network data, third party data, geographical locations, and demographical data.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority of U.S. Provisional Application No.61/424,574, entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING AWARDS ANDADVERTISEMENT CONTENT WITHIN A GAMING ENVIRONMENT,” filed Dec. 17, 2010,which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for allpurposes.

FIELD

This application relates generally to data processing and, morespecifically, to systems and methods for providing awards andadvertisement content within a gaming environment.

SUMMARY

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subjectmatter.

In an example embodiment, a computer-implemented method for providingadvertisement content within a gaming environment comprises providingthe advertisement content for a surface of a virtual object within agame, receiving predetermined advertisement content selection criteriafor selecting the advertisement content, based on the predeterminedadvertisement content selection criteria, selecting the advertisementcontent from an advertisement database, and selectively providing theadvertisement content for the surface of the virtual object within thegame.

In an example embodiment, a computer-implemented method for providing anaward within a gaming environment comprises providing the award to aplayer playing a game, receiving predetermined award selection criteriafor selecting the award, based on the predetermined award selectioncriteria, selecting the award from an award database, and selectivelyproviding the award to the player.

In further example embodiments, steps counterpart to the methodsdescribed herein may be stored on a computer readable storage mediumhaving a program embodied thereon, with the program executable by aprocessor in a computing device. In yet further example embodiments,modules, subsystems, or devices can be adapted to perform the recitedsteps. Other features and example embodiments are described below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not limitation in thefigures of the accompanying drawings, in which like references indicatesimilar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a network environment within which thesystems and methods for providing awards and advertisement contentwithin a gaming environment are implemented, in accordance with anexample embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an advertisement system, in accordancewith an example embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an award system, in accordance with anexample embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a process flow diagram showing a method for providingadvertisement content within a gaming environment, in accordance with anexample embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a process flow diagram showing a method for providing an awardwithin a gaming environment, in accordance with an example embodiment;and

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic representation of an example machine in theform of a computer system within which a set of instructions, forcausing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein, are executed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Systems and methods allowing changing advertisement content inside gamesand awarding game players third party sponsored virtual or real prizesand incentives are provided.

In some example embodiments, systems and methods for providingadvertisement content within a gaming environment may include anadvertising database or server, which provides the advertising contentto the gaming environment via a network (e.g., the Internet). Theadvertising content delivered via the network may be displayed inside agame played by one or more players. To select the advertisement contentfor a game, a portion of the game, or a bonus game within the game, theadvertising system may utilize certain predetermined criteria describedin more detail below.

The advertising content may be specific to the entire game, a specialsponsored game (or bonus play) within the game, or be specific to theplayer. The criteria for selecting the advertising content specific tothe player may be based upon an interest in various products, companies,or brands expressly stated by the player. The criteria for selecting theadvertising content may also be based on information disclosed on theInternet, within a social network space, or deduced or determined fromthe information gathered by an in-house analytic system or a third party(e.g., Google AdSense placement style, keyword detection, demographic orgeographic information).

Once the advertising content (based on player preferences or otherpredetermined criteria) is received in the gaming environment,personalized advertisements may be displayed on the surfaces of virtualobjects within the game. A homegrown or third party technology may beutilized to display the advertisements on the virtual objects.

In some example embodiments, the systems and methods for providingawards within a gaming environment may award sponsored prizes. Theseprizes may be of a virtual nature (such as gaming tools, hints, skills,and so forth), special additional (bonus) games/rounds, or some otheradditional features enhancing the gaming experience and/or providingadvancements or additional playtime. The award system may also awardreal prizes, such as gift cards, discount coupons, and so forth. Theawards may be won by a player of a network gaming system or mobilesystem in the course of a game or in the course of an additional bonusgame, such as a special game sponsored by one or more advertisers. Theawards may be selected from an award database by a player and/orautomatically selected by the award system based on predetermined awardselecting criteria. The criteria for selecting the award may comedirectly from the player who expressed interest in a range ofproducts/companies, may be determined from the personal informationdisclosed by the player on the Internet, or may be determined frominformation gathered or otherwise known to those skilled in the art,such as Google AdSense, keyword detection, demographics, geographicinformation, Internet Protocol (IP), and so forth.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a network environment 100 within whichthe systems and methods for providing awards and advertisement contentwithin a gaming environment may be implemented, in accordance with anexample embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the example network environment100 may include a plurality of personal communication devices 110, anetwork 120, a social network 130, a game server 140, an advertisementsystem 150, an advertisement database 160, an award system 170, and anaward database 180. The personal communication device 110 may includeany device on which a game application can be run, such as, for example,a mobile telephone or a game console (e.g., Nintendo DS). Other examplepersonal devices 110 may include devices having a mere browser or moreadvanced devices able to run a complete operating system.

The network 120, as shown in FIG. 1, is a network of data processingnodes interconnected for the purpose of data communication, which may beutilized to communicatively couple various components of the networkenvironment 100. The network 120 may include the Internet or any othernetwork capable of communicating data between devices. Suitable networksmay include or interface with any one or more of, for instance, a localintranet, a PAN (Personal Area Network), a LAN (Local Area Network), aWAN (Wide Area Network), a MAN (Metropolitan Area Network), a virtualprivate network (VPN), a storage area network (SAN), a frame relayconnection, an Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) connection, asynchronous optical network (SONET) connection, a digital T1, T3, E1 orE3 line, Digital Data Service (DDS) connection, DSL (Digital SubscriberLine) connection, an Ethernet connection, an ISDN (Integrated ServicesDigital Network) line, a dial-up port such as a V.90, V.34 or V.34bisanalog modem connection, a cable modem, an ATM (Asynchronous TransferMode) connection, or an FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface) or CDDI(Copper Distributed Data Interface) connection. Furthermore,communications may also include links to any of a variety of wirelessnetworks, including WAP (Wireless Application Protocol), GPRS (GeneralPacket Radio Service), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication),CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) or TDMA (Time Division MultipleAccess), cellular phone networks, GPS (Global Positioning System), CDPD(cellular digital packet data), RIM (Research in Motion, Limited) duplexpaging network, Bluetooth radio, or an IEEE 802.11-based radio frequencynetwork. The network 120 can further include or interface with any oneor more of an RS-232 serial connection, an IEEE-1394 (Firewire)connection, a Fiber Channel connection, an IrDA (infrared) port, a SCSI(Small Computer Systems Interface) connection, a USB (Universal SerialBus) connection or other wired or wireless, digital or analog interfaceor connection, mesh or Digi® networking.

The network environment 100 may include one player or many playersplaying an interactive game in an Internet environment, on a personalcommunication device 110 or on a computer. The Internet gamingenvironment may be facilitated by an online network service, platform,or site that may communicate with social network services, or a sitethat focuses on the building and reflecting of social networks or socialrelations among people (e.g., who share interests and/or activities).The social network service may include a representation of each playeras a profile, his/her social links, and a variety of additionalservices. A social network service may be web based and provide meansfor players to interact over the Internet. A game played within a socialnetwork may include a type of game that features multiplayer andasynchronous gameplay mechanics. A social network game may be played viaa web browser or a mobile application installed on the personalcommunication device 110. The gaming environment may be facilitated bythe game server 140, which may be run remotely and used by the socialnetwork 130 to play multiplayer video games. A social network game maybe played over the Internet via a connection to the game server 140. Asthe game is played, the game server 140 may collect data from playersand distribute it to other players.

The game played within the gaming environment facilitated by the gameserver 140 may be specifically designed to contain virtual spacesdedicated to display advertising on surfaces of virtual objects of thegame. The advertising content displayed on such surfaces may be providedby the advertisement system 150, which selects advertising content fromthe advertisement database 160. The advertisement system 150 may utilizepredetermined criteria to select the advertisement provided by theadvertisement database 160. The predetermined criteria may be based oninformation specific to the entire game, a special sponsored game (orbonus play) within the game, or specific to the player. Theadvertisement content may be specific to the players who expressedinterest in the range of products/companies, can be deduced from thepersonal information disclosed by the player within the social networkspace, or may be determined from information gathered otherwise as knownto those skilled in the art (e.g., Google AdSense placement style,keywords detection, geographic, and demographic information, IP).

The advertisement database 160 may store the advertisement content. Inone example embodiment, the advertisement database 160 is a computerserver (e.g., an application or a web server) that stores advertisementsused for marketing in games and provides them to the advertisementsystem 150. The contents of the advertisement database 160 may beconstantly updated to dynamically change the advertisement contentdisplayed on the surfaces of the virtual objects within the games.Additionally, the game server 140 may perform various other tasks, suchas counting the number of impressions/clicks for an advertisementcampaign and generating reports. The advertisement database 160 may beinstalled locally or accessed via a third party. Based on historicaldata provided to the advertisement system 150, a specific advertisementmay be displayed for a player. For example, if the player is known tohave visited an automotive website, a car advertisement may bedisplayed. In addition, the advertisement content displayed within thegame may be based on contextual targeting by inferring the optimaladvertisement placement from information contained within specificscenes of the game. For example, a mountain bike advertisement may beautomatically placed on a virtual object within a scene that includes amountain bike race. It should be understood that any other predictivemethods may be used for a given advertisement placement.

The award system 170 may be utilized to award sponsored prizes (virtualor real) within the context of a social/mobile game (or an extension ofa game, bonus game, additional game/round, additional feature/missionwithin a game, and so forth). The award system 170 may utilize specificbusiness rules by which prizes or ranges of prizes are determined. Theprizes may be specific to the entire game, a special sponsored game (orbonus play) within the game, or to the player. The prizes may bespecific to the players who expressed interest in the range ofproducts/companies, determined from personal information disclosed bythe player within a social network space, or from information gatheredas otherwise known to those skilled in art (e.g., Google AdSenseplacement style, keywords detection, geographic, and demographicinformation). The award database 180 may store the prize and awardcontent.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the advertisement system 150, inaccordance with an example embodiment. In one example embodiment, theadvertisement system 150 may include a communication module 152 and anadvertisement selecting module 154. The advertisement system 150 mayprovide advertisement content within a gaming environment. Thecommunication module 152 may provide the advertisement content for asurface of a virtual object within a game and may receive predeterminedadvertisement content selection criteria for selecting the advertisementcontent. The advertisement selecting module 154 may select theadvertisement content from the advertisement database 160 based on thepredetermined advertisement content selection criteria and provide theadvertisement content for the surface of the virtual object within thegame played by one or more players within the social network 130 via thepersonal communication device 110, computer, or video game console. Theadvertisement selecting module 154 may utilize a personal preference, asocial network fact, a third party fact, a geographical location, an IP,or a demographical fact to select the advertisement content.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the award system 170, in accordancewith an example embodiment. In one example embodiment, the award system170 may include a communication module 172 and an award selecting module174. The communication module 172 may be utilized to receive a requestto provide an award to a player playing a game and to receivepredetermined award selection criteria for selecting the award. Theaward selecting module 174 may be utilized to select, based on thepredetermined award selection criteria, an award from the award database180 and to selectively provide the award to a player. The award mayinclude a physical reward such as a gift, merchandise, discount coupon,gift card, or invitation to a private sale. The award may include avirtual reward sponsored by a third party, such as a virtual gamingtool, a level of a game, a key for unlocking a level, a gaming hint, agaming skill, a bonus game, a bonus part of the game, an additionalfeature of the game, additional play time, or an opportunity to engagein a random event with a chance of receiving a virtual prize. The valueof the award may be based on the level of play. The random eventmentioned above may include a wheel spinning, tiles of objects forselecting, routs of objects for selecting, or arrays of objects forselecting. It will be understood that more than one advertiser maysponsor a particular award. The players may share the awards within anetwork and/or exchange awards of a virtual or real nature.

FIG. 4 is a process flow diagram showing a method 400 for providingadvertisement content within a gaming environment, in accordance with anexample embodiment. The method 400 may be performed by processing logicthat may comprise hardware (e.g., dedicated logic, programmable logic,and microcode), software (such as software run on a general-purposecomputer system or a dedicated machine), or a combination of both. Inone example embodiment, the processing logic resides at theadvertisement system 150, shown in FIG. 2.

The method 400 can be performed by the various modules discussed abovewith reference to FIG. 2. Each of these modules can comprise processinglogic. It will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill that examples ofthe foregoing modules may be virtual, and instructions said to beexecuted by a module may, in fact, be retrieved and executed by aprocessor. The foregoing modules may also include memory cards, servers,and/or computer discs. Although various modules may be configured toperform some or all of the various steps described herein, fewer or moremodules may be provided and still fall within the scope of variousembodiments.

As shown in FIG. 4, the method 400 may commence at operation 402 withthe communication module 152 of the advertisement system 150 receiving arequest to provide the advertisement content for a surface of a virtualobject within a game. The advertisement system 150, having access topersonal, geographic, and/or demographic information of the player, mayfacilitate playing the game in such a way as to allow specificadvertising content to be displayed on virtual objects in the game (orthe game extension). Alternatively, the game may allow extensions of thegame (additional play/round, bonus play/round, additional missions) tobe added. As mentioned above, in one example embodiment, the gamingsystems and methods may include a player or a group of players playing agame in a network environment, on a mobile device, or on a computerwhere he/she creates a gaming space, with a choice of virtual tools, viacasual games used by a mass audience of casual gamers.

At operation 404, the communication module 152 of the advertisementsystem 150 may receive predetermined advertisement content selectioncriteria for selecting the advertisement content from the advertisementdatabase 160. At operation 406, the advertisement selecting module 154may select, based on the predetermined advertisement content, theadvertisement content from the advertisement database 160. At operation408, the advertisement system 150 may selectively provide theadvertisement content for the surface of the virtual object within thegame.

FIG. 5 is a process flow diagram showing a method 500 for providing anaward within a gaming environment, in accordance with an exampleembodiment. The method 500 may be performed by processing logic that cancomprise hardware (e.g., dedicated logic, programmable logic, andmicrocode), software (such as software run on a general-purpose computersystem or a dedicated machine), or a combination of both. In one exampleembodiment, the processing logic resides at the award system 170, asillustrated in FIG. 3. The method 500 may be performed by the variousmodules discussed above with reference to FIG. 3. Each of these modulesmay comprise processing logic. It will be appreciated by one of ordinaryskill that examples of the foregoing modules may be virtual, andinstructions said to be executed by a module may, in fact, be retrievedand executed by a processor. The foregoing modules may also includememory cards, servers, and/or computer discs. Although various modulesmay be configured to perform some or all of the various steps describedherein, fewer or more modules may be provided and still fall within thescope of various embodiments.

As shown in FIG. 5, the method 500 may commence at operation 502 withthe communication module 172 of the award system 170 receiving a requestto provide an award to a player playing the game. The award may includea virtual or real prize sponsored (entirely or partially) by the thirdparty. For example, a player may receive additional tools enhancing hisor her gaming ability and ability to move from level to level. On eachconsequent level, a new level of the game can be unlocked or new routsof advancement appearing. The player may purchase enhancement tools andthereby advance to different levels faster. The award system 170 mayallow some portion or the entire tool (tool set) be sponsored by a thirdparty.

Games often include a random number generator (or random generatoremulation) event (which can be presented as a wheel for spinning ortiles/routs/arrays of objects for picking or other representations knownto those skilled in the art) to provide a tool, tool set, or resourcefor faster advancement. Some of these random events may be free but aplayer may have to pay for some of them. The award system 170 may allowsome portion or the entire random event to be sponsored by a thirdparty. A player may thus have a chance to win sponsored prizes in thecourse of a game or random event.

The sponsored prize may be associated with information the player choseto disclose to the gaming system. Sponsored awards may be preferentialto the player, the system may pick the sponsors for the player based onthe information disclosed, or a combination of both. Sizes of sponsoredawards may be in direct or indirect relation to the level of play. Theawards may have game-only value (can be used in the game as a tool or adecoration) or may have actual value (gift cards or coupons provided bythe third party).

In one example embodiment, the advertising content may be displayed onthe game indicia. In other example embodiments, the advertising contentmay be displayed to specify a special sponsored tool for winning,advancement, or just a winning symbol. The prizes may be of a realnature, such as merchandise, discount coupons, gift cards, invitation toprivate sales, and so forth. There may be a random event associated withthe dispensing of a prize. There may be one or more sponsors for thesame gaming event.

Referring back to the method 500, at operation 504, the communicationmodule 172 of the award system 170 may receive predetermined awardselection criteria for selecting an award. At operation 506, the awardselecting module 174 may select, based on the predetermined awardselection criteria, an award from the award database 180. The selectedaward may be provided to the player at operation 508.

FIG. 6 shows a diagrammatic representation of a computing device for amachine in the example electronic form of a computer system 600, withinwhich a set of instructions for causing the machine to perform any oneor more of the methodologies discussed herein can be executed. Invarious example embodiments, the machine operates as a standalone deviceor can be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networkeddeployment, the machine can operate in the capacity of a server or aclient machine in a server-client network environment, or as a peermachine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. Themachine can be a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box(STB), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, aportable music player (e.g., a portable hard drive audio device such asa Moving Picture Experts Group Audio Layer 3 (MP3) player, a webappliance, a network router, a switch, a bridge, or any machine capableof executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) thatspecify actions to be taken by that machine. Further, while only asingle machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken toinclude any collection of machines that individually or jointly executea set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more ofthe methodologies discussed herein.

The example computer system 600 includes an engine or multiple engines602 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit(GPU), or both), a main memory 604 and a static memory 606, whichcommunicate with each other via a bus 608. The computer system 600 mayfurther include a video display unit 610 (e.g., a liquid crystal display(LCD) or a cathode ray tube (CRT)). The computer system 600 alsoincludes an alphanumeric input device 612 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursorcontrol device 614 (e.g., a mouse), a disk drive unit 616, a signalgeneration device 618 (e.g., a speaker) and a network interface device620.

The disk drive unit 616 includes a computer-readable medium 622 on whichis stored one or more sets of instructions and data structures (e.g.,instructions 624) embodying or utilized by any one or more of themethodologies or functions described herein. The instructions 624 canalso reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory604 and/or within the engines 602 during execution thereof by thecomputer system 600. The main memory 604 and the processor 602 alsoconstitute machine-readable media.

The instructions 624 can further be transmitted or received over anetwork 626 via the network interface device 620 utilizing any one of anumber of well-known transfer protocols (e.g., Hyper Text TransferProtocol (HTTP), CAN, Serial, Modbus).

While the computer-readable medium 622 is shown in an example embodimentto be a single medium, the term “computer-readable medium” should betaken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralizedor distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) thatstore the one or more sets of instructions. The term “computer-readablemedium” shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable ofstoring, encoding, or carrying a set of instructions for execution bythe machine and that causes the machine to perform any one or more ofthe methodologies of the present application, or that is capable ofstoring, encoding, or carrying data structures utilized by or associatedwith such a set of instructions. The term “computer-readable medium”shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to,solid-state memories, optical and magnetic media. Such media can alsoinclude, without limitation, hard disks, floppy disks, flash memorycards, digital video disks, random access memory (RAM), read only memory(ROM), and the like.

The example embodiments described herein can be implemented in anoperating environment comprising computer-executable instructions (e.g.,software) installed on a computer, in hardware, or in a combination ofsoftware and hardware. The computer-executable instructions can bewritten in a computer programming language or can be embodied infirmware logic. If written in a programming language conforming to arecognized standard, such instructions can be executed on a variety ofhardware platforms and for interfaces to a variety of operating systems.Although not limited thereto, computer software programs forimplementing the present method can be written in any number of suitableprogramming languages such as, for example, Hyper text Markup Language(HTML), Dynamic HTML, Extensible Markup Language (XML), ExtensibleStylesheet Language (XSL), Document Style Semantics and SpecificationLanguage (DSSSL), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Synchronized MultimediaIntegration Language (SMIL), Wireless Markup Language (WML), Java™,Jini™, C, C++, Perl, UNIX Shell, Visual Basic or Visual Basic Script,Virtual Reality Markup Language (VRML), ColdFusion™ or other compilers,assemblers, interpreters or other computer languages or platforms.

Thus, systems and methods for providing awards and advertisement contentwithin a gaming environment have been described. Although embodimentshave been described with reference to specific example embodiments, itwill be evident that various modifications and changes can be made tothese example embodiments without departing from the broader spirit andscope of the present application. Accordingly, the specification anddrawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictivesense.

1. A computer-implemented method for providing an award within a gamingenvironment, the method comprising: receiving predetermined awardselection criteria for selecting the award; based on the predeterminedaward selection criteria, selecting the award from an award database;and selectively providing the award to a player.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the award is a physicalreward selected from one or more of the following: a gift, amerchandise, a discount coupon, a gift card, and an invitation to aprivate sale.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein anin-house or a third party calculates the amount of traffic directed bythe advertisement, coupons, or prizes.
 4. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein the award is a virtual reward sponsored by athird party, the virtual reward being selected from one or more of thefollowing: a virtual gaming tool, a level of a game, a key for unlockinga level, a gaming hint, a gaming skill, a bonus game, a bonus part ofthe game, an additional feature of the game, an additional play time, anopportunity to engage in a random event with a chance of receiving avirtual prize.
 5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, whereinthe random event includes one or more of the following: a wheelspinning, tiles of objects for selecting, routs of objects forselecting, arrays of objects for selecting.
 6. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 4, wherein a value of the award is based on the level.7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the award isprovided by one or more advertisers.
 8. The computer-implemented methodof claim 1, wherein a game is played on one or more of the followingdevices: a mobile device, a computer, and a video game console.
 9. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the gaming environmentincludes one or more players.
 10. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 9, wherein the predetermined award selection criteria include oneor more of the following: a personal preference, a social network fact,a third party fact, a geographical location, and a demographical fact.11. A system for providing an award within a gaming environment, thesystem comprising a communication module to receive predetermined awardselection criteria for selecting the award and an award selecting moduleto select, based on the predetermined award selection criteria, theaward from an award database and to selectively provide the award to aplayer.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the award is a physicalreward selected from one or more of the following: a gift, amerchandise, a discount coupon, a gift card, and an invitation to aprivate sale.
 13. The system of claim 11, wherein the award is a virtualreward sponsored by a third party, the virtual reward being selectedfrom one or more of the following: a virtual gaming tool, a level of agame, a key for unlocking a level, a gaming hint, a gaming skill, abonus game, a bonus part of the game, an additional feature of the game,an additional play time, an opportunity to engage in a random event witha chance of receiving a virtual prize.
 14. The system of claim 13,wherein the random event includes one or more of the following: a wheelspinning, tiles of objects for selecting, routs of objects forselecting, arrays of objects for selecting.
 15. The system of claim 13,wherein a value of the award is based on the level.
 16. The system ofclaim 11, wherein the award is provided by one or more advertisers. 17.The system of claim 11, wherein a game is played on one or more of thefollowing devices: a mobile device, a computer, and a video gameconsole.
 18. The system of claim 11, wherein the gaming environmentincludes one or more players.
 19. The system of claim 11, wherein thepredetermined award selection criteria include one or more of thefollowing: a personal preference, a social network fact, a third partyfact, a geographical location, and a demographical fact.
 20. Amachine-readable medium comprising instructions for providing an awardwithin a gaming environment, which when implemented by one or moreprocessors, performs the following operations: receives predeterminedaward selection criteria for selecting the award; based on thepredetermined award selection criteria, selects the award from an awarddatabase; and selectively provides the award to a player.